nothing is as effective as defeat -Charles Bukowski

always carry a notebook with you

wherever you go, he said,

and don’t drink too much, drinking dulls

the sensibilities,

attend readings, note breath pauses,

and when you read

always understate

underplay, the crowd is smarter than you

might think,

and when you write something

don’t send it out right away,

put it in a drawer for two weeks,

then take it out and look

at it, and revise, revise,

REVISE again and again,

tighten lines like bolts holding the span

of a 5 mile bridge,

and keep a notebook by your bed,

you will get thoughts during the night

and these thoughts will vanish and be wasted

unless you notate them.

and don’t drink, any fool can

drink, we are men of

letters.

for a guy who couldn’t write at all

he was about like the rest

of them: he could sure

talk about

it.

Charles Bukowski - from: Play The Piano Drunk Like A Percussion Instrument Until The Fingers Bleed A Bit